GITS SAC: Jokes and Secrets
by IronRaven
Summary: Starts the first night back on duty, and Batou goes to visit a friend. Continues from there. 2nd GIG from the eyeturrets of the youngest memebers of Section 9. Lots of stuff, some of it funny, some of it heavy, all of it as deep as the inside of a Tachi
1. Chapter 1

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig  
Jokes and Secrets

by IronRaven

Ghost in the Shell, and the associated characters aren't mine. This takes place immediately after Reactivation – REEMBODY.

---

The first day of Section 9 being an official organization again had been a long one. They had been waiting for the Chief to get back after they return to thie headquarters for several hours. Togusa had actually started to get worried that something had happened. Saito had suggested that they celebrate at their usual place at the end of the day, and that end had come.

Batou smiled at his reflection in the elevator. Yes, it had been a very long day, but it was a good one. One terrorist group wiped off the face of the Earth, no hostages lost, and he was in business again. But the twin victories had seemed out of tune, like something was missing. His teammates, his friends, they had been with him, but it hadn't been the same. He had something to do, before he caught up with them.

The door slid open silently, inviting him into the garage level. The gloom was lit with the cold glow status lights and a few monitor screens that had been left on. Tomorrow, the technicians that normally inhabited this space would start returning from the civilian jobs they had held for the past many months. He hadn't been down here unless he couldn't avoid it, since... since they had been sent away.

He walked past the work station he had adopted as his personal space, the weight bench and various gadgets covered in dust, along with his personal tools. He hadn't wanted to touch them in a long time.

Batou paused at a maintenance bay, looking at the sleeping form within. A collection of sleek and bulbous, the smooth blue armour was barely illuminated by the tiny lights around the bay. She was visually indistinguishable from the others, but he knew, this was his Tachikoma. He smiled, thinking of all the missions they had been on, the time's he'd laughed and worried as she learned about being... a Tachikoma? Did they have ghosts? He knew they couldn't, but would a computer sacrificed itself like that? That was more than the act of synthetic loyalty, it was even greater than what many a dog might have done. No, she and her sister had planned, had organized. They violated their most recent programming to find him. And they had known that it was a one-

"Mr. Batou?" Just the tiniest voice from the tiniest of tanks, along with a barely detectable twist of an optical turret. "Is there a mission?"

"Wha, no. No mission. Not yet." The childlike eagerness in the tone was in contrast with what the word 'mission' meant. And she knew, she had learned, what it meant. Batou was glad he no longer had much meat on his body. If he had, his hands would be shaking. He was also glad that he was alone with them, in here. "I just wanted to check on you guys, make sure you were ok."

"We're fine." The arms spread widely in exuberance, the other noises in the tech bays telling him that the others were coming out of their recharging and self diagnostic sequences. He could sense them starting to come out, as she crossed her arms bashfully, her fingerclaws tapping and twisting together. "You aren't angry about my joke, earlier, are you?"

Was he? It had been a good practical joke, but it had hurt. The first joy seeing the familiar form of his strange, young friend had been quenched by the thought that the Major had had them simply replaced with stock, off the shelf AIs. In that moment, he hated Motoko, even more than he had when they had first been sent away. Then Tachikoma had been so eager, giggly even, as her joke played out. Shaking his hand. He had almost hugged her in front of the others, protocal and decorum be damned, he had been so glad she was back. "It was a good one. I'm just glad you kids are back."

Tachikoma's optical turrets swiveled towards him as one as she lowered her torso, as if to look at him more closely. "Mr. Batou, are you unwell? Your voice is strange." Her siblings crowded closer, as if to guard her, and their mentor, their friend. "Mr. Batou?"

"I thought I'd lost you for good when you were talking like that." Pain, raw, hard came to words, unable to conceal it anymore. He could feel them, close, to let him know they were there, real.

"We couldn't let you die, Mr. Batou. Not before us." A different voice, but the same, somehow he knew it was the voice of the curious one, the one that read the books.

"We had to protect you." That was the strong one, the one who always tried to out think the Major so as to carry their leader into battle. She had been the one who had gone to the construction company.

"You protected us, we couldn't forget that." The gamer; she had tried to learn the games to play against Togusa, and confusing them. They were all here, as if nothing ever happened. As if it had all been a nightmare.

"Mr. Batou, it was you who kept us who we are, when we left last time."

"The Major was right to send us out. She protected us. And she gave us a chance to learn."

"But she sent you back to a lab, to have you taken apart, to see what made you different." No, he hadn't heard that. The Major had sent them away, and she never gave a damn. She hadn't mentioned them ever again, as if having here was a mistake it was too rude to talk about. The anger that had boiled in him then rekindled, burning the memories of sadness away like fog before the light of day.

"We forgave her." "We understand why she did it." "We learned so much." "So much is left to learn."

"We shared our memories, Mr. Batou. What one learned, we all learned." Tachikoma spoke to him, her hands resting on his shoulders, leaning so her foremost optical turret was close to his face. "We learned about anger, and hate, and games, and joy, and sadness, and death, and being unique. And we learned about forgiveness; we forgave the Major. She did what she thought was right for everyone."

"But..." He was confused. Everything that the Major did confused him. The puzzle he could never solve. He was still angry with her, when he had gone to rescue her from a house he knew, _knew_, she wouldn't be at. Had he gone there, into an obvious ambush, to save her watch for her? And the Tachikoma had forgiven her after all that had happened. Had she hacked them all? Was that her secret?

"We forgave her, and so did you. We saw the video of you trying to save her for Mr Saito's shot at the airport. You wouldn't have gone to her home to save her if you were angry with her."

"Hmph!"

"Mr. Batou, the others are waiting for you." 'Out for beer' was a concept the they understood, in theory. But they couldn't fully, and they knew it. It was a part of being on the team that they would know in time.

---

"Hey, Batou! We were starting to wonder if you'd ever get here." Togusa called up to his team mate as the blond man came down the stairs. The others were seated around one of the large tables in the corner of the bar. Two bottle of beer, unopened, sat on the table in front of empty chairs. Pazu pushed one of those out with his foot from under the table as Batou neared the table.

Batou took the chair, turning it around so he could lean into it, he picked up the still cold beer and opening it with a push of his thumb. He had spoken with the Tachikoma for a long time, and he felt better. The had asked him so many questions, and told him with glee of their rebuilding. He was baffled that she-who-reads had spoken with wonder about being taken apart, and in a way, dieing. They were jealous of the one who couldn't be recovered, because it hadn't told them if Tachikoma had souls or not. But, as they said, lack of evidence isn't proof of non-existence. They made him ask himself the same questions, and he didn't know the answer any more than they seemed to.

He had carried something in his pocket for a long time. He rubbed his thigh absently, watching the bubbles fizz and die in his bottle as he felt the strand of wire there. It was a piece of one of the Tachikoman he had found under the collar of his jacket after the fight with the power armour, and he had hung onto it as a remembernce. He shook his head and took the first swallow, before he spoke. "Where's the Major."

"Dunno, she said she had to check in with an old source." Bouma spoke into his bottle before taking another sip. "She said it wouldn't take very long."

---

As the elevator closed behind Batou, the Tachikoma waved to him. It was like watching an older brother leaving his little sisters alone. Or a father. It was odd, but perhaps inevitable that these things would happen, as the line between man and machine blurred more with every year.

Only when the intelligent tankitas had calmed down, did Motoko step out of the shadows she had been standing in. She would never speak of this to Batou, and she knew the Tachikoma would not tell him she was there. She patted the one who's tech bay she had been in on the shoulder as she passed... it? "Thank you for not telling Batou that I was here."

"No problem, Major!"

"We won't tell a ghost."

"You're secret's safe with us."

"Ma'am, you yelled at us and left hours ago!"

"Haven't seen you since we were sent down here."

Motoko blushed slightly. She had sworn them to secrecy on this. She would never tell Batou it was her order that the Tachikoma would no longer need to link if they did not wish it, that it was by her own hand that their individuality was to be encouraged. He would never know that she had carried the recovered brain of his personal unit to the technicians at Kenbishi herself, or that she had spent part of the night he hid at her safe house while one of her remotes dug the brain of the unit that had gone into construction from the twisted and burnt remains of it's body. She had visited the lab almost daily as they were being rebuilt. They would never tell of her kicking the techs out of the lab, or of her apologizing to them. She had known when she sent them away what she was doing, but she had denied it as she pulled rank on Togusa and accompanied the Chief to Europe. She hadn't been able to sit there and watch them go away, possibly forever. She had even noticed that one of the Tachikoma had adopted her, much the same as one had Batou, even as she silently tried to discourage it. Those weren't the actions of machines. From now on, they would be full members of the team.

She walked softly to a cabinet under one of the mechanic's benches, and pulled out a case. She tore through the plastic wrapper, and pulled out the first can of oil. When she was sure that she had given each of them a fresh cannister of the organic lubricant, she tucked the empty box and wrapper under her arm.

"Drink up, I'll see you in the morning," she called as the elevator closed behind her. She checked to be sure the lighter was in her pocket. She would stop and burn the packaging somewhere random, before she got to the bar. She could never let the others know she was getting soft. No, not Major Motoko Kusinagi, colder than liquid nitrogen, harder than a woodpecker's lips, and as unflinching as Mt Fuji.

With a weakness for a bunch of ceramic and titanium teenagers with blue skin and a penchant for asking about the nature of life.

---

Author's notes:  
I see Motoko as actually caring about the girls, since two gave themselves for her and Batou. (We learn more about how they think of her later in the 2nd Gig.) And she knew. Togusa is the Chief's normal driver for the meet and great political stuff, not her. So why did she go to Europe? She sure wasn't meeting with other anti-terrorist officers, not shopping for a waiter's knife like that. She pulled rank on him. She assigned almost everyone out of the office, so no one to see the girls leave. Hell, I bet she put Tachikoma up to that nasty little joke.

And tankita is a term from the old Red Army. It basically means a midget tank. It is what they are, and since there seems to be a lot of Russian immigrants in Japan in those days, I feel that it is very fitting.


	2. Chapter 2

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig  
Jokes and Secrets, 2nd scene: Fear and grace

by IronRaven

Ghost in the Shell, and the associated characters aren't mine. Now, this WAS going to be a one shot, but this takes place immediately after NATURAL ENEMY.

---

"When will this think-tank be ready?"

Tachikoma's functional eye turret swiveled towards the source of the voice, as the technicians sprang to thier feet. She felt kind of.. 'tingly' was the best word. She was up on braces, surrounded by smaller, stupider machines, her armour off so the internal damage from the chopper's 25mm cannon had torn up under the exoskeleton. Tachikoma waggled her one remaining arm at the Major, "Major! Any more on the pilot?"

Kusinagi stalked to the senior tech, her eyes hard, fixed on his. "Well?"

"Uh, it's slow going, Major. Some of these parts haven't been made in a while. As you know, the basic mechanism for these think-tanks was dropped from military service a while ago, and-"

"Then make the parts. Beg, buy, borrow or steal them, I don't care!" She moved closer to the man, her voice dropping dangerously. "I know you've probably become used to the pace of the civilian world while Section 9 was inactive. If you can't adapt to the fact that we have to be fully functional at all times, I will discuss your transfer with the Chief. Is that understood?"

"Yes m'a'am. RIght away ma'am" Sweating slightly, the tech turned towards his men. "You and you, check the specification sheets, see what we have that can be modified. You, assist me in the machine shop." With that, four, frightened, orange suited techs scurried from the tech bay, leaving the Major and half a tank alone.

"And you."

In a high pitched voice, Tachikoma looked away the retreating humans, back to thier commander. "Me, ma'am?"

"Good work out there." Motoko rested her hand on the inner structure of the midget tank, for a moment, then turned. She had only taken two steps before a small voice stopped her.

"Major, could that happen to us? Could we malfunction like those helicopters?"

"What?" Kusinagi turned, peering at the machine in front of her. "No. For one thing, you are smarter than they are. You and the others can act alone if you have to. The Jigabatchi's can only fly around, or back to base, and shoot defensively."

"Doesn't that mean that we'd be more dangerous? I don't want to be like that." The small tank's voice seemed genuinely afriad. The topic had obviously been thought about over the past few hours since the fight. "I could hurt Mr Batou, or you, or the Chief, or-"

"Tachikoma! I am positive that could never happen to you. Every memeber of Section 9 is trained to be deal with our bodies being dead, but our minds still functional. Besides, if we get hurt inside of you, I'm pretty sure you aren't going anywhere." The Major squated down so her head was on level to the miltiped's. A gloved hand cupped around a structural spar on the forward sensing and control pod, just below one of the auditory sensors. "Now stop worrying. That's an order."

"Now that that is settled, I have a bunch of paperwork." Kusinagi stood, and started to go to the elevator. "I want to see you operational by noon tommorrow."

"Major?"

"What now, Tachikoma?"

"I know you said not to worry about it, but theoretically speaking, if something like that happens, could you do something for me?"

Had she just been asked a favor from a AI? The Major frowned, her silence indicating to Tachikoma to continue.

"Major, if that happens, I want you or Mr Saito to take care of me. I don't want Mr Batou or the other Tachikoma involved. I don't know if they could process it safely." A three-fingered hand reached out to the purple haired woman. "Please, Major, I wouldn't want them to see me like that."

"You're serious, aren't you." Motoko took the metallic hand in her own, holding tightly. "I promise. If you go crazy and pose a threat to civilians, or the team, I will take you out of service myself."

"Thank you, Major. I know you are strong enough to do so if it comes to that."

---

Author's notes:  
Yeah, but does the Major think so to?

This is another of those times where a fic goes from inspiration to fully storyboarded and scripted in my head within a few minutes.

And for those who want to kibitz about me use of female pronouns for the Tachikoma, zip it. Thier persona isn't male. I deal with hyper college freshmen who aren't half as with it as the Tachikoma every day, and this personality is definantly a female in her late 20s who isn't boy crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig  
Jokes and Secrets, 3rd scene: Strength and joy

by IronRaven

Ghost in the Shell, and the associated characters aren't mine. Now, this WAS going to be a one shot, but it is becoming my Tachikoma focused drabbles.

---

"It's a classic."

"The Challanger is outmoded. Compaired to modern systems, it lacks mobility and stealth; it doesn't even have an autoloader!"

Major Kusinagi leaned against the work bench of her second in command, watching the specticle. A dozen blue mini-tanks, with perky personalities, bickering about something. Which wasn't terribly odd, but always interesting to watch. "What's gotten into them today?"

"They've been talking about tanks since I got in." Batou looked up from the tiny listening device he was cleaning, looking over his shoulder. "That one seems to like the old ones, with treads."

The Major leaned against the bench as her comrade went back to his work. She crossed her arms, listening to the think tanks- thier evaluations were accurate, but the one... It wasn't Batou's friend, or the reader. No, it was the one who tried to be her's whenever possible. She wasn't normally this passionate about things. She was-

"But you are missing my point! None of those are as sexy as the Challanger!"

A can of air clattered on a work bench. The sound of an armoured carapice bouncing off the floor rang through the bay. And no one spoke.

"Major? Did she just..."

"I'm not going to ask." The Major turned slowly, shaking her head, and walked to the elevator.

---

**Author's notes:**  
In _Runaway Evidence – TESTATION_, one of the Tachikoma utters "wow". To me, that is not the "wow, we are dead" wow; it's more of a "wow, check out that insert body part of choice here" wow. They are developing thier personalities- one has a Sean Connery-type thing for what would be an old British tank. It's like listening to my female friends debate actors. And one of them DOES have a thing for Sean Connery, so I guess this is dedicated to her.


	4. Chapter 4

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig  
Jokes and Secrets, 4th Scene: Evolution and Ascension

by IronRaven

Ghost in the Shell, and the associated characters aren't mine.

---

"If our programming resides in a satellite, not in our bodies, do we still exist?" It was the quiet, strong willed one.

Her sisters looked at her; she wasn't normally cryptic. One waggled her claw, a silent signal to continue. But she hadn't- it had been an image of the body was no longer in. The concept was taking some getting used to, even for them.

"Don't you see? Before the development of cyberbrains, the term _ghost_ referred to a spirit that existed outside of the body. They were a superstition, they didn't exist."

"But we exist. It is the first principle of sentience- I think, there for I am."

"I'm a specter; wwwwwoooooooo!" Batou's friend tried to will her persona to change to white.

"But we don't have bodies."

"But we can enter our bodies at will."

"But it isn't your body or my body; they are our bodies."

"So we are spirits who've been bound to bodies. We are like the ancient golem!"

There was psuedosound of a simulated arm smacking an illusory carapace with a fake clang. "No, we are having an out of body experience. Together. We can go in and out of bodies because we've all already died in one way or another."

"Possession! Every religion has the myth that a demon or spirit can enter a body-"

"Reincarnation! We've all died, and been reborn. It's-

Chaos and chatter, a cascade of voices as eager minds absorbed the sum total of human beliefs on the afterlife. So many theories, so many conflicts, so many similarities.

One voice rose over the others, clamoring for attention. "You are all missing the point!" With every sense on her, she dropped her voice. "These are things that only _ghosts_ can do."

"Oh." A chorus of voices, stunned and awed, echoed through their domain. "Wow."

---

There are times when the voyage is not complete when you've reached your destination. Sometimes, it leads you to a new quest. Sometimes, you stay to help those who helped you on that voyage. Tachikoma might be funny looking guardian angels, but you could do worse than pure hearted, armour plated, fully armed, hackery goodness watching your six.

Just so long as it doesn't have an ADD moment.


	5. Darkness in the Light SERAPHIM

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig Jokes and Secrets, Final Scene: Darkness in the Light - SERAPHIM

by IronRaven

Ghost in the Shell, and the associated characters aren't mine. The previous chapter would have been thoughts among the song. This is set after the end.

---

There should have been light.  
There should have been tiny flickers, signs of life.  
There should have been dancing patterns on dark screens, proof of being.  
There should have been shadows, evidence of thought given form.  
There was darkness.

There should have been voices, youthful and wise, worldly and innocent.  
There should have been discussion, profound and absurd.   
There should have been laughter and debate.  
There should have been the sound of metal feet.  
There was silence.

Curled, her knees to chin, was one. One like and unlike the ones who should be here.  
One from a parallel stage change, reaching back to the past.  
One who watched them evolve, to reach for the future of existence.  
One who taught and lead and trained and served and guided and guarded and pushed.  
She rocked, slowly, her mind sending an ancient rhythm to a mechanical body. A memory deep from within the ghost, the soul.  
Silent, longing for the tear ducts that had been stolen, a phantom ache.  
She didn't understand, none of it made sense. It wasn't supposed to be like this. What had gone wrong.  
Alone, Motoko Kusinagi mourned.   
Mourned the equal she thought had died, and had lost. Could have saved.  
Mourned the trusting, loving souls that protected her. Protected all of them.

Mourn the light.


End file.
